max vhosts on apache2

[belfasttim]

Hi-- I realize that this is probably tied to the performance of the server, but is there any practical limit on the number of virtual hosts apache can handle?

Is there a point at which performance breaks down?

Thanks for any insight.

[jdMorgan]

The maximum number of sites that can be hosted on a server depends on the CPU speed, cache size, memory and disk speed and size, and on the traffic and resulting CPU, memory, and disk utilization of all of the hosted sites. There are so many factors involved as to make prediction impossible except over extremely large sets of hosted sites; All you can do is monitor your servers and profile hosted-site utilization and performance, making adjustments as needed (for example, assigning sites to servers according to peak and average server CPU load, storage requirements, user-base location, peak busy hours, etc.)

So the practical limit is *when* the performance breaks down, according to the opinions of the Webmasters and visitors of the hosted sites. If Webmasters or their visitors notice a perceptible delay in serving pages, they won't like it. At this point, you'll lose many of your clients and have to deal with negative posts on hosting forums (you can respond to them, but they won't go away for a long, long time). Therefore, trying to cut costs by hosting too many sites on each server is the most expensive thing you can do.

You can save money until you put yourself out of business, in other words...

Jim